Relating the Morphology of Bipolar Neurons to Fractal Dimension

By analyzing reconstructed three-dimensional images of retinal bipolar neurons, we show that their dendritic arbors weave through space in a manner that generates fractal-like behavior quantified by an ‘effective’ fractal dimension. Examining this fractal weave along with traditional morphological parameters reveals a dependence of arbor fractal dimension on the summation of the lengths of the arbor’s dendrites. We discuss the implications of this behavior for healthy neurons and also for the morphological deterioration of unhealthy neurons in response to diseases.